Scrap the $3.2 Million "Rainbow" Legal Fund and Audit Taxpayer-Funded Activist Litigation: Shelton
Family First Party
MEDIA RELEASE
11 August 2026
Scrap the $3.2 Million “Rainbow” Legal Fund and Audit Taxpayer-Funded Activist Litigation: Shelton
Family First National Director Lyle Shelton is calling on the NSW Government to immediately scrap $3.2 million in funding for a new, statewide LGBTQIA+ legal service and instead order a full audit of every government-funded legal centre in NSW to identify how taxpayer money is being used to bankroll activist litigation.
The NSW Government this week confirmed the Inner City Legal Centre (ICLC) will receive $800,000 a year for four years to run the state's first dedicated, statewide LGBTQIA+ legal service, expanding from Sydney's inner city to regional and remote NSW by 2027.
“Just last month the NSW Supreme Court upheld a $95,000 vilification bill against Kirralie Smith for saying men can't play women's football,” said Mr Shelton. “That is exactly the kind of case NSW taxpayers are now being forced to bankroll a permanent legal army to bring. If you're a mum, a dad, a grandparent, a footy coach or a schoolteacher who says what everyone already knows to be true, you are now the target.”
Ms Smith, founder of women's rights group Binary Australia, was found to have unlawfully vilified two transgender competitors under the NSW Anti-Discrimination Act's vilification provisions after saying they should not compete in women's football. A Local Court ordered her to pay $55,000 and $40,000 respectively to the two complainants; the NSW Supreme Court dismissed her appeal in late July, upholding the full $95,000 bill.
“Family First warned exactly this would happen when we opposed Alex Greenwich's Equality Bill in 2023,” said Mr Shelton. “We said these laws would be used to hunt down mums and dads for stating basic biological facts, and now we're watching it happen in real time — while the Government hands another $3.2 million to build the legal machine that does the hunting.”
Mr Shelton, who is running for the NSW Legislative Council, says he has direct, personal experience of how taxpayer-linked legal outfits are turned against ordinary Australians who hold mainstream views.
“I've spent six years and counting fighting a vilification complaint brought with the backing of groups including Equality Australia and the LGBTI Legal Service, simply for criticising a drag event,” said Mr Shelton. “I know from bitter personal experience what happens when activism gets dressed up as legal aid. Kirralie Smith now knows it too, to the tune of $95,000. Multiply that by every mum and dad this new taxpayer-funded service goes after, and you start to see exactly what NSW families are being signed up for.”
“Every dollar of legal aid in this state should go to people who need a lawyer, not to outfits proudly waving a movement's flag while bankrolling one side of the culture war,” said Mr Shelton. “The Government must scrap this funding today, it also owes NSW taxpayers is a full, independent audit of every legal centre it funds, to find out how many of them are running activist litigation on the public purse instead of genuine legal aid.”
Family First is calling on the NSW Government to:
- Immediately scrap the $3.2 million in funding announced for the ICLC's new statewide LGBTQIA+ legal service;
- Commission an independent audit of all government-funded community legal centres in NSW to identify activist-driven litigation funded by taxpayers, including any role in vilification actions such as the case against Kirralie Smith; and
- Redirect any funding earmarked for the service to generalist legal aid providers serving all NSW residents equally, regardless of identity or cause.
ENDS
KEY FACTS
- The NSW Government has confirmed $3.2 million in funding over four years ($800,000 annually) for the Inner City Legal Centre (ICLC) to deliver the state's first statewide LGBTQIA+ legal service, under the National Access to Justice Partnership with the Commonwealth.
- ICLC CEO Katie Green said the organisation was established on Oxford St, Darlinghurst, in the 1980s and has “a long and proud connection with the LGBTQIA+ rights movement.”
- NSW Attorney General Michael Daley said the standalone service will “significantly expand” ICLC's ability to help LGBTQIA+ people access justice on family, domestic and sexual violence, discrimination and vilification matters.
- Kirralie Smith, founder of Binary Australia, was found by a NSW Local Court in August 2025 to have unlawfully vilified transgender footballers Stephanie Blanch and Riley Dennis under the NSW Anti-Discrimination Act's vilification provisions, over comments that trans women should not compete in women's football.
- Ms Smith was ordered to pay $55,000 to Ms Blanch and $40,000 to Ms Dennis, a total of $95,000. The NSW Supreme Court dismissed her appeal in late July 2026, upholding the damages in full.
- Family First publicly opposed the 2023 Equality Legislation Amendment (LGBTIQA+) Bill, warning at the time it would put children, women's safety and freedom of conscience at risk; the Bill passed the NSW Parliament in October 2024.
- Lyle Shelton has separately been engaged in vilification proceedings since 2020 over comments critical of a Brisbane drag storytime event, brought by two performers represented with the support of Equality Australia and the LGBTI Legal Service. The Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal dismissed the complaint in 2023; that decision was overturned on appeal in 2026 and the matter remitted for further consideration, leaving Mr Shelton's case unresolved after six years
Lyle Shelton is Family First’s National Director, NSW Legislative Council lead candidate.
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Lyle Shelton
